"Of whatsoever matter the men of Oxford be put in plea, they shall deraign themselves according to the law and custom of the city of London and not otherwise, because they and the citizens of London are of one and the same custom, law, and liberty." [Sidenote: Life of the Town] A legal connexion such as this could hardly fail to bring with it an identity of municipal rights.

Oxford had already passed through the earlier steps of her advance towards municipal freedom before the conquest of the Norman.

Her burghers assembled in their own Portmannimote, and their dues to the crown were assessed at a fixed sum of honey or coin.

But the formal definition of their rights dates, as in the case of London, from the time of Henry the First.

The customs and exemptions of its townsmen were confirmed by Henry the Second "as ever they enjoyed them in the time of Henry my grandfather, and in like manner as my citizens of London hold them." By this date the town had attained entire judicial and commercial freedom, and liberty of external commerce was secured by the exemption of its citizens from toll on the king's lands.